Go See China: Even Confucius loved food

What to eat (1)
Food is an important part of the chinese culture and once you are in China you will be confronted with it everywhere you go. Having dinner here in China is not only about filling your stomach because you are hungry, it is about spending time with your friends and familiy, sharing delicious food and enjoying to talk about what is happening in your daily life. Nomatter how busy you are, sharing at least one meal a day with the ones you love is very important to chinese people. That eating plays a major role in their lives, is not a trend that came up recently, it indeed seems to be as old as chinese culture itself: according to Lun yu (Confucian Analects), when the duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about military tactics, Confucius replied, "I have indeed heard about matters pertaining to tsu (meat stand) and tou (meat platter), but I have not learned military matters."

Since I am living in Guangzhou a Dim Sum Restaurant of course was one of the first places to go. Dim Sum, literally "touch your heart", is a Cantonese term for small bite-sized portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Due to the the small portion sizes you may try a variety of different dishes. Some of these may include rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns, dumplings, etc. Eating dim sum at a restaurant is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶), as tea is typically served with it.

Due to my "uncommon" eating habits a lot of people are asking me how i can survive here in China, since most of the dishes offered at the restaurants contain either meat, fish or seafood. Well, being a vegan in China indeed is not always easy and sometimes people here don't even know what vegan means. If you say you don't want meat they will still try to offer you chicken. It sometimes takes a lot of time and explanations to make people understand what you are looking for, but nevertheless it is worth it. And since rice, noodles and vegetables are staples of the chinese cuisine there actually are tons of different options for vegans too, you just have to find them. And if you really can't find a place offering any vegan dishes you can just order any dish on the menu that contains vegetables and rice/noodles and ask the waiter to serve it without the meat. Here are some examples of what I am usually eating: